What is CSC Agriculture portal and how will it help the farmers?

The CSC e-Governance India Ltd (CSC SPV) has launched an e-marketplace or portal to help the farmers. It aims at empowering small and marginal farmers, who constitute 86% of India's farming community, acting as a one-stop destination and marketplace for them.

How will the CSC Agriculture portal help the farmers?

The newly launched Agri services portal, CSC Agriculture, will enable small and marginal farmers to connect with the digital world and avail themselves of the essential agri services with ease and at an affordable cost. 

Farmers will now be able to access the portal with the help of the local CSCs for buying agri-input products, renting and hire of agriculture implements and machinery, soil testing, sale of farm produce, teleconsultations, loan and insurance facility.

CSC SPV plans to reach out to around 6,000 Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) by the end of this year, one in each block of the country. As of now, the platform has already onboarded around 1,000 FPOs which in turn will enrol around 1 crore farmers to help them facilitate various services available on the portal. 

Services available on the CSC Agriculture portal

1- Kisan E-Mart: It aims to empower farmers pan India by facilitating them to market local products on e-platforms. Farmers can sell their produce directly through CSC. 

2- Soil Testing Centre: It provides farmers with information about general soil characteristics along with its mechanical properties such as the availability of micro and macro-nutrients after testing the soil samples. 

3- MOVR: It allows farmers to digitally hire and rent farm machinery and other related equipment to their counterparts pan India. It aims to provide high-value farm equipment to farmers at an affordable cost. 

4- Brand Cart: An initiative by CSC SPV to promote digital ordering and safe delivery at consumer doorstep, where VLE/ District VLE Society/ Kisan Points / FPO & FPC can work as an Agent / Retailer / Distributor.

5- Agriculture Tele Consultation: It aims to develop a platform that can enable various organizations to align their social and commercial goals for the benefit of the rural population in the remotest corners of the country. 

6- Banking Services: It helps farmers with short, medium, and long terms loans with better interest rates as compared to the existing market rates. 

7- Accounting Tools: It helps improve the operational efficiency of the FPO workforce and also aids in digitally tracking all business transactions in an easy and secure manner.

8- E-PashuChikitsa: Any animal owner can visit the nearest CSC to schedule an appointment with the doctor, can interact with the doctor via video or audio call or text messages and get the prescription for the same. 

CSC SPV Chief Executive Officer Sanjay Rakesh said, "At a time when rural India is hard hit by Covid pandemic, agriculture teleconsultations through technology have come as a boon for farmers. Apart from teleconsultations, a soil testing facility will also be provided to farmers through labs being set up at the blocks under the initiative."

"CSC has always strived to improve the lives of citizens in rural areas through various interventions. We have been providing various services to farmers like teleconsultations, rental of machinery, IFFCO products, trading platform, etc. The agri platform is an effort to consolidate all those services and provide them under one umbrella so that farmers can gain maximum benefit from it," he added. 

He believes that the platform will transform the rural landscape of India. Warehousing and cold storage facilities will soon be introduced on the platform to help farmers increase their productivity and income. 

About CSC Agriculture Portal

CSC Agriculture is an initiative of CSC SPV-- set up under the aegis of the Ministry of Electronics & IT. CSC SPV provides a host of electronic services to consumers through its Common Service Centres Scheme, besides ensuring its systemic viability and sustainability.

Other government schemes including Kisan Credit Card, PM Fasal Bima Yojana, PM Kisan Samman Nidhi and PM Kisan Maan Dhan Yojana for farmers will also be available through the CSC Agriculture platform. At present, CSC SPV operates around 3.74 lakh CSCs, 80% of which are functional in rural and semi-urban areas.

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